Home treatment of various ailments?

[Cheesenugget]

Experienced keepers 'treating' their reptiles go into it blind: It is like trying to untie a small knot in a big ball of yarn. You might get it right the first try without issues or most likely, you end up with more knots.

I adopted my first bearded dragon from who was the head reptile keeper at the local prominent zoo. She was also an active member of the herp society as well as breeding her own animals. The lizard was in her care for several weeks until I adopted her. Within 2 weeks and going to my exotic vet for what was intended a regular check up, the lab results came back with fungus inside her organs (Yellow fungus in beardies are difficult to treat and fatal, extremely slow and painful death). The vet also palate her belly and felt a mass, which upon necropsy, found to be a ruptured egg that had been sitting there who knows how long. Needless to say, she was put to sleep so her suffering can finally end.

Treating a sick animal is more than addressing the symptoms. If you can't get to the root of the problem, you either exacerbate the symptoms or another different symptom may or may not relate to this can arise. To understand how sick a reptile is, especially some will eat until the day they die, a complete blood panel will clear a lot of questions and streamline to what the most possible cause could be. Can't do that if you are not a vet. In addition, you are paying for their experience, they might see what you did not, and they can consult with other vets, like mine did, to confirm diagnosis.

And yes, it sucks paying $500 for a dead pet. Truly, I know because I spent $800 on that beardie who I loved dearly for the 3 weeks we had together. I wished in all my heart the poor girl would be given a second chance after years of neglect, and she is blind as a bat. I also wished after spending years, money and effort, I could have prolonged my 17 year old cat's life whose liver suddenly started to fail after he started to do better with his kidney disease. But I never blamed the vet for it. It may be a bill at the end because they are not a charity. But I believe most vets truly do try that best, and will consult for help, if needed. Call the vet office and confirm years of experience in treating your reptile before you set the appointment. This way, you are going to the right place for help.

Lastly, do not use antibiotics sparingly. Reptiles are not dogs or cats. This applies mostly to lizards, especially insect eaters, and they naturally maintain a parasite load that is kept down by their immune system. Healthy, not stressed lizard = stronger immune system less issues with parasites. By destroying the parasites, you mess up their gut flora which in turn can make the animal more sick and unwilling to eat. Captive bred specimens have less of this problem than wild caught ones. You only need to rid of the parasites when issues arise and the vet prescribe the correct dosage.